This page contains links to two books of short stories and one long novel in progress.
Afterworlds 11 short stories set in various different afterlives
The Hole Under Jerusalem Long science-fiction novel involving a climbing expedition through the nine Circles of Dante's Inferno
Quail's World 18 fantasy stories, mostly involving mountaineering, some also involving gods and demons
Some suggestions how to transfer the downloaded epub file into your Kindle reader or other devices are at the foot of the page.
The religions of the world have given us interesting post-death worlds to explore. This set of short stories explores a handful of them. They're around 1500 to 5000 words (10 min to 30 mins reading time) apart from the last one, a longer 'novelette'.
Birds of the Afterworld A deceased birdwatcher strays into an inappropriate afterlife. Read online
Golf Balls of the Material World Col. Mackenzie's 250-yard drive goes clear across the Keltie's Burn. Or does it go much, much farther than that?
The Black Loch of the Beast A winter meeting between a grieving climber and... someone else
Fairway to Heaven The golf course is threatened with redevelopment. But what can Fraser and the foursome team do about it – given that all four of them are already dead?
The Dogs of Golf The Masters are gone, wiped out by a raiding tribe of Homo sapiens. But then, ten thousand years later, a single golf ball hops along the fairway.
The Love of Granite To die on the granite is better than living on the ground.
Rock Candy Mountain Freshly-squeezed lemonade trickles down the rocks and the cee-gars grow on trees. So can Cross-tie Joe find happiness here?
The Cloud of Unknowing Gerald Macdonaldson, youth group leader, finds his own mapreading leads him into confusion.
Adventures in the Bardo Plane Dying on Shishapangma, will Bibi Armbruster end up in the Preta-realm of the miserable ghosts? Or might he, even, attain enlightenment?
In the night airport A midle-aged man is trying to download his boarding pass. But a voice from the past keeps breaking in.
The Death and Afterlife of the Boatman Tut-Capet When her devotee Tut-Capet is brought to judgement under mysterious circumstances, river goddess Annaket decides to investigate.
It's the last great unclimbed route within the orbit of the Moon – the rocky and dangerous underworld of Dante's Inferno. Just one problem. In a world where everybody climbs, archeologist Professor Carl Snedgrove Harcourt is someone who doesn't. Harcourt hires the unscrupulous Shonnagh Rourke, proprietor of the Solar System's premier mountain shop. In secret Shonnagh gathers her team. Harcourt's golden-haired student Pheidippida: no climber, but keen on null-gee bodyball. The clairvoyant Brother Bertram-Manticora: he has foreseen his own death. And also everybody else's. Bofors Creetchie, brutal and glamorous, will be the leading climber of his generation – if he lives. Prisoner Female HT7134: purchased by Shonnagh on the strength of her burglary skills. Quail, robbed of a classic ascent on Aconcagua IV, ranked 142,706 in the world and falling. Literally.
Just one thing. Since 1305, fourteen billion more have died and Hell is bigger now. Much bigger. A hundred and sixty kilometres of demon-haunted rock and ice divide the climbers from the 8000m End Wall and their encounter with the Prince of Darkness. Plus the greatest mountain prize of the 22nd Century.
length: 170,000 words (very long, 450 – 500 pages standard paperback)
All but five of these eighteen stories exist on the edges of my work in progress 'The Hole under Jerusalem' – the final one, 'Phlogistofernes', is adapted from the book itself. They take place in a world where the main economic and cultural activity is mountain climbing, where legends, myths and religions can come true, and where on 9th June 1924 George Mallory and Sandy Irvine descended, still alive, from Everest. Most of them are around 5000 words long – about 15 mins reading time.
Southpaw Pillar Climbing orphans Quail and Shonnagh head to the Karakoram to find the deathsigns of their parents
Avalanche Wing A new way of climbing up the avalanche couloirs
The Clashing Rocks Odysseus after the Trojan War; Jason and the Argo; and a small tourist paddlesteamer of the 22nd Century
Sandro at the Wall Little Petey climbs; the two beautiful sisters climb; but how shall Sandro amuse himself at the Silver Espadrille Award?
Down among the dolmens A long-distance walker finds an unusual way of earning 40 Euros
Yeti Steps A strange piece of kit at Morag's mountain shop. And an even stranger story to go with it.
Quail Net Bofors Creetchie's at the Slime Wall, but someone's already climbed it. Something must be done! Blood on the rocks!
Huamancantac God of Guano They've climbed his seastack, but how will they appease the bad-tempered god of seagull poo?
The Love of Granite To die on the granite is better than living on the ground
The Poison Wall One really difficult ice climb could make all the difference.
We capture Asgard For centuries, the ice walls of Asgard have been denied to human climbers. But that could be about to change...
A Lovely Couple Romero and Julia, how sweet! And they met when Julya stole Romero’s mobile phone.
Addlington Manor An English country house in 1906. But why is everyone so concerned about the sex life of Lothar the German cavalryman?
The Call Centre An office romance – but in this run-down eastern European city, workplace tensions tend to turn lethal.
Barefoot Boy No shoes, no gear at all, and he climbs the blank walls of buildings. But Rodriga fancies him for the bottom end of her rope.
Quartz Vein A wounded climber: abandon them to their fate, or give up on your climb? Fortunately rubbleclimbing's so lethal the issue doesn't usually arise.
Bringing down the Bodies The porter Pig-Iron's fourth husband, the one she keeps for visitors, faces his first big climb.
A chat with the demon Phlogistofernes The Shonnagh/Harcourt theological survey has passed through the first eight Circles of Dante's Inferno. But now the demons have caught up.
On Mac, iphone or ipad, just double-click the epub file. It will transfer itself into your ibooks library and open. Or it may open in some other ebooks reader that you didn't even know you had.
The simplest method, which you can use for transferring any Word or pdf file into your Kindle devices, as well as designated ebooks in epub format.
Visit Amazon's send to kindle page.
If not already logged in to your Amazon account, then log in at top right.
Drag the epub file onto the page. Ensure 'add to library' is selected ON.
The file may not appear among your 'ebooks', look for a tab called 'docs'.
Instructions here
Request and download the pdf file (won't be readable on phone or tablet or Kindle)
Or else, search and download Calibre ebook converter and reader. After installing it, double-clicking the epub file will open it in Calibre's rather primitive ebook reader: or use 'add books' from within the app.
1. On your Kindle reader, right-click or press-n-hold the file and 'permanently delete' or 'remove from device'.
2. If it fails to remove itself from all your devices, go to Amazon on a browser, log in, go to 'Account & Lists', and look for 'Manage your content and devices'.